Piero di Cosimo

Little is known of the life of this Florentine painter and hermit. The sixteenth-century art historian Vasari, one of the principal sources of information about him, had this to say: "He liked everything that was wild, for he said that nature should be left to take care of itself" The interest that painters had in nature typified the intellectual curiosity of the Renaissance. Vasari also describes Piero di Cosimo as an eccentric and solitary character, especially in his old age.